Dark Leadership, Charisma and Trust

Abstract

Trust, charisma and bad leadership are central concepts in the managerial psychology. The aim of this paper is try to put forth shortly some ideas to research these phenomena, and connections between them, empirically. Charismatic leaders have the power and the ability to manipulate and misguide people. To prevent this misbehaving, it is important to promote processes of transformative ethical leadership. Thus, commitment, value-congruence, and communality are in the play a key positions. Charismatic leaders could be weak persons with destructive narcissist power. Good management and leadership are also central factors influencing these processes. Destructive and narcissistic leaders are, on the other hand, negative dark forces causing damage and harm in organizations. So, it is an important task to research these elements. The nature of the paper is exploratory. A conceptual analysis is conducted in order to set up a conceptual framework for empirical studies. The next phase of the research will be to gather relevant empirical material: interviews, company documents and participatory observation experiences.